If you are considering Growatt as an solar inverter, this is a must read.

Growatt Logo Overlayed on a Large Solar Installation on some random Building in China

Growatt are a Chinese owned & operated company that make and market PV inverters to over 100 countries. Historically, and not unlike most Chinese companies that grow rapidly, they had significant teething issues to do with support and warranties outside China. The hardest part for a full-blown Chinese company to enter a market like the Australian market is, and was, losing sales in translation.

EDIT: We’ve received official responses to sections of this Article from Growatt and these notes will be highlighted in red. Note that these responses are from Growatt Australia and may not apply to other countries.

I am pleased to say that as of 2019 they are doing well again as a company. They have many half Chinese and Aussie staff in Sydney who can speak on behalf of both sides of the market. They are very responsive staff and speak better English than some solar sales companies.

They’re now one of the older (and wiser) Inverter Brands in the Aussie PV market and are currently standing the Test of Time.

Growatt Stats In Australia Market Share

Growatt have been in Australia for 8 years. Growatt is the largest inverter exporter and have been for 8 years.

There are more than 185,000 Growatt “unites,” or units we assume, installed in Australia.

Of the 185,000 installed, there are 90,000 units that have been working for at least 5 years. This sounds strange but it’s great

But, unlike most inverter brands that came and went, Growatt is actually still here. In fact, they were just awarded Top Brand PV Belgium 2019. Being the top brand in a country is not an easy feat and congratulations to Growatt for getting this award.

Growatt Battery Review

Growatt AC Battery and Chargers (Discontinued)

Growatt first released a battery in 2016 or so. It is an AC Battery.

The Growatt batteries were released in a 2.7kWh model and a 5kWh model. You could combine two 5kWh batteries together and get a 10kWh battery.

This is quite funny to us: it’s a 10kWh AC battery, kind of like Enphase AC battery crossed with an LG 10kWh battery, but low voltage. Simply put, it is a weak battery with a large capacity.

At the end of the day, and no matter which way you look at it, the Growatt and any other AC battery, like Enphase, can only store under a $1 buck worth of QLD power. You are better off selling your power to AGL at 20 cents a watt (at time of writing).

We are unable to comment further on Growatt battery reviews as we did not install any Growatt batteries and the 2018 Generation of Growatt batteries are no longer being manufactured. Growatt confirmed via phone to us that there are some leftover Growatt batteries in the factory for replacements to live out the warranty for any homeowners that bought one.

Growatt first generation batteries are a discontinued product. However, Growatt is around to help if you already bought one.

There are major flaws in the idea of AC batteries in the Australian market, which are not limited to power output, how fast they charge & discharge, dismal storage capacity and expensive cost.

The “New Generation” Growatt battery peaks at 3kW of power output.

It stores 4.28kWh of usable power.

It has a design life of 10 years+ and a warranty of 5 years.

Avoid all AC Batteries, we don’t sell them, they are wrong.

AC Battery Review

Simply put, a $2,000-10,000 battery with less than a $1 dollar per day worth of power stored is not economical, whichever way you look at it.

The payback period for AC batteries may, in some, cases be longer than the 10 year warranty. Shocking, we know.

Growatt confirmed to us that they decided to cease production of the Growatt battery due to low sales volume of the battery.

When will Enphase do the same?

– Confused Investors

I applaud Growatt for having a go at the Battery Arms Race anyway. We feel the same way when we send a solar quote to a bloke that already has 8 quotes.

We look forward to the future generation of Growatt batteries when the technology behind electrolytics improves beyond Lithium Iron/Ion.

Growatt Warranty Review

Growatt is currently running a 10 year warranty on the following inverters:

When you fill out their warranty form, you will receive a PDF stamped with the Growatt extension information.

Do not install Growatt inverters in the sun.

Growatt does not warrant inverters that are installed, “under the direct sun light.”

When you open a warranty case with Growatt:

(Growatt Official Updates in Red):

Growatt will either send someone out to repair the inverter on-site, or“we cannot repair faulty inverters as we do not have spare components”

Growatt will repair it in China, or “the faulty units will be collected and sent back to China for research and study if necessary”

Growatt will replace it with equivalent product.

“Yes, to replace the whole inverter unit is the best way to fix the existing issue”

Growatt Official Response

When you receive a replacement product, Growatt will warrant that for the remainder of your 10 year warranty, you don’t get an extra 10 years.

After the first 5 years of the Growatt warranty, the warranty changes a bit. Growatt does not cover logistics or labour or freight or compensation. As Growatt puts themselves:

“Also the replacement may have a little flaw on its surface, and the warranty excludes any general defects, if inverter is still generating power to grid.”

– Growatt

This means from years 1-5 you will get a new Growatt inverter. And from years 5-10 you will get a Growatt inverter with, “a little flaw on it”. We can’t confirm if this is or would be a refurbished inverter or, quite literally, just a dirty inverter or one that got scuffed in the factory and didn’t meet their Quality Control standards. I will update this section once confirmed.

Growatt Sydney Office Officially updated me on the above part in relation to replacing inverters in Australia.

“We will dispatch the replacement units when the faulty one is still warranty, in terms of the replacement unit, it will not bring in another 5 or 10 years warranty. All the warranty period will only be calculated based on the installation date of the ORIGINAL inverter. There won’t be a service difference between the first 5 years of warranty and the last 5 years. As for installation compensation, our current policy is to cover up to $150 including GST. This policy could be changed as we are now looking for more options to make our service better.”

Growatt Official response to my interpretation of the warranty procedure

Growatt Wifi Review

Wifi Powered

Growatt sells a plug and play with dongle that can be mounted to their latest inverters. When installed, your Growatt inverter will, every 5 minutes, send data to Growatt that you can see on the app or website.

The data sheet states that the Growatt wifi module can transmit data up to 100 metres away.

If Growatt releases any updates for the inverter, you can receive firmware updates for your inverter automatically.